The amount of testing in Tennessee’s public schools is under scrutiny, with the state's new education commissioner naming a task force Monday to complete a review by this summer. Parents frequently tell commission Candice McQueen that there is "too much testing," according to an education department press release. “In places that I’ve been across the state, I’m hearing that we have a lot of assessment, we have lots of data, but I’m not sure we’re using it for the purpose it’s potentially...

State lawmakers are considering a plan that public defenders say could gut their funding in Tennessee’s four biggest cities. The proposal would roll back a 23-year-old law that has tied the budgets of defenders to those of prosecutors.

NBA veteran and Tennessee State University alum Anthony Mason died this weekend, after suffering a serious heart attack in early February. He was 48.

The 6-foot-7 forward played for six teams during his 13-year career in the NBA. He's best known for his time on the New York Knicks in the early '90s, playing alongside Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley and John Starks.

Mason played for TSU from 1985 to '88, becoming the school's fifth all-time leading scorer with 2,076 points.

State takeover of a school is going to be controversial, but some legislators believe Tennessee's Achievement School District isn't worth the headaches. The ASD — which controls 23 chronically low-performers in Nashville and Memphis — is fending off Democrats eager to see its demise.

Temperatures are not expected to drop below freezing again until late Wednesday, and that’s a good thing for Middle Tennessee farmers.

DeWayne Perry, who just retired after 40 years with the Williamson County agriculture extension, says the last two weeks of February were a stressful time, as farmers tried to keep a steady water supply flowing for their livestock.

But while some struggled, an extended February cold snap wasn’t all bad news for the agriculture industry. Perry says peach orchards can actually benefit from freezing weather.

WPLN's state capitol reporter and Morning Edition host Emil Moffatt discuss why rhetoric perceived to be racist is getting so much attention.

Issues related to Islam have resurfaced in the Tennessee General Assembly. Last week, it was outcry over a GOP lawmaker's month-old Facebook post suggesting Western people need their own lobbying group to compete with Muslim groups. There's also pending legislation to break up concentrations of immigrants and a bill that Islamic activists believe could lead to the seizure of mosques.

A new low-income housing development is being lauded as the first of its kind in the state. 12 Garden Street, in Nashville's Chestnut Hill neighborhood, will house future pastors alongside people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The first resident to sign on is 28-year-old Steven Greiner. He says he’s nervous to move out for the first time but excited to have more of a personal life — “to live as independently as I can," he says, "just living life [to the] fullest."